“YES” on the Daines A-PLUS Amendment

Today, the Senate will likely vote on an amendment offered by Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT)77% to the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015 (S. 1177).The amendment, known as A-PLUS, would give the states the ability to escape No Child Left Behind’s prescriptive programmatic requirements, consolidate their federal education funds and use them for any lawful education purpose they deem beneficial.

The Heritage Foundation’s Lindsey Burke explains that the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success (A-PLUS) proposal “has long been part of the conservative vision for restoring state and local control of education.”

The concept behind A-PLUS is simple: States can opt out of NCLB by making a “declaration of intent.” End of story, Burke explains:

“The Education Department does not have veto power over these declarations; they’re not like a waiver which can be approved or disapproved depending on the whims of federal bureaucrats. The A-PLUS proposal allows states to opt-out, no strings attached.”

At its core, A-PLUS delivers on the promise of “restoring state and local control over the 10 percent of education funding financed by the federal government,” moving dollars out of the hands of federal bureaucrats and political appointees and into the hands of those closer to the students.

Now is the time for Congress to restore federalism in education, empower parents and students instead of bureaucrats and unions, and remove archaic obstacles that have prevented true opportunity for all.

Heritage Action supports the Daines Amendment and will include it as a key vote on our legislative scorecard.